A typical schoolday is from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm, and a typical workday is from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. How do parents receive and pick up their children at 3:00 pm when they’re supposed to be working?

42 comments

  1. I’ve asked this since high school. Its so hard to accommodate a job and children in the US.

  2. Kids walk or take the bus, one parent might not be working, or one parent will adjust their schedule accordingly or just not be on the 9-5 schedule

  3. If you don’t live close enough to walk or bike, you take the school bus.

  4. We took the bus home.

    Kids who didn’t? After school programs, friends or family, non-standard work schedules on the parents end, or the kids walked home.

  5. The kids will have their own house key and will walk and/or take the bus.

  6. Kids either walk home or take the bus. They may also have some after school activity to go to like sports or a part-time job. One parent also may not work, so they’ll go and pick the kid up. Sometimes it’ll be another family member like an older sibling or a grandparent as well.

  7. We have school busses. At 15 in a few places, or 16 (most places) kids can get their license and drive themselves and their siblings… That’s what we did. I grew up with 4 brothers, each of the oldest ended up driving the younger ones around until they went off on their own lol. It was the exchange for getting a car.

    However, many office jobs are staying WFH or on a Hybrid schedule. I’m WFH for the foreseeable future, so I go get my kids just because I want to, rather than them take the bus. Once football starts again they’re usually at school until after 5 or 6.

  8. A great many don’t.

    The kids get out of class and start practice that keeps them busy for awhile longer, they take the bus home or walk home, little ones get taken to after school care either at a private daycare or at the school itself, all sorts of things.

  9. After age 10 or so, kids get their own key, get themselves home, and have 2-3 hours free time alone.

    Before that, the school often provides post-school daycare.

  10. I stayed at an after school program for 2-3 hours up until 5th grade when my parents started letting me walk home and be home alone for a couple hours.

  11. If salaried, I’ve often seen parents just leave for an hour or so if they have a short commute,then come back to work to pick up kids from school.

    Otherwise, they walk/bike/bus to and from school.

    Also, 8-5 is far more common than 9-5 in my experience, 1 hour unpaid lunch.

  12. When I was a kid we took the bus, had a 1/2 block walk from the bus stop to our door, and had a key to let ourselves in. Then we had two or three hours to kill before mom and dad got home from work, usually played video games or played outside.

    This was the early 00’s, I think that’s considered child abuse today with the helicopter parenting.

  13. For younger children, some of the options include:

    * One spouse stays at home and doesn’t work, or works part time
    * After school day care
    * Family/friends pick them up

    For older children, they can take the bus, walk or ride their bike home.

  14. Afterschool programs exist for these kids. There are numerous options in our area. Our son goes to one at a youth martial arts studio where martial arts and parkour classes are part of the program, and they have a playground so the kids can get exercise and blow off some steam. For rainy days they have a Wii and they organize dodgeball games etc. They have tables so the kids can also work on their homework.

    The afterschool has its own little bus that picks the kids up from school. We pick him up from the afterschool. It’s still hard because most of these places close at 6, and if you have to work late and/or have a long commute or hit traffic, it can be a problem, but on a regular day it’s pretty convenient.

  16. I walked home when I was in grade school then took the subway back home and picked up my sister when I was in high school until she was old enough to walk herself

  17. Sometimes kids will take the bus back home, some families have older, retired relatives like grandparents who are able to pick the kids up from school, some families have their work schedule set so that they’re able to pick their children up at 3:30 or whenever. Also many friend groups (parent or kid) will have one parent who isn’t on the typical 9-5 and picks up all the children and watches them until the other parents get off work.

    And that’s not counting the kids who participate in some sort of extra-curricular, and would be staying at or around school until 5 or later anyway. Also many school systems offer a low (or no)-cost “after school program” where teachers stay after for some organized study and games until the time many parents would be off.

  18. My school day in elementary school was 9:00 to 3:00. I can’t imagine a 7 1/2 hour school day. Though I did go to Hebrew School four days a week afterwards, with a 20 minute walk between them, so perhaps it’s not that bad. I walked in all cases, and like most but not all of my friends back then, I had a SAHM.

  19. The workday isn’t always 9-5 for one thing. Plenty of people start work before 9 in the morning.

    But also they use after school care programs until kids are old enough to be home by themselves for a short time. Or hire a babysitter, have an older sibling be responsible, or work different shifts to make sure someone is home (or one spouse doesn’t work)

  20. There are after school programs. You could also hire a babysitter for after school hours. You could structure your workday to end by 3:00. You could decide to not work. Lastly, you could leave your child unsupervised.

  21. It’s because the school/work system was designed to accommodate the “standard American family” where one (male) parent worked to make money and one (female) parent took care of the kids. Most middle-upper class families were like this when this system was designed.

    Nowadays most families across the spectrum aren’t like that (single parent, both parents working, etc) … kids either have nannies/older siblings/grandparents when they’re too young to be on their own and take the bus/walk to get home.

  22. After care for young ones. The bus just drops off the older ones.

    The definition of older/younger may vary.

    This cannot be unique to the US as a working day is typically longer than a school day world wide.

  23. When I was a kid- my father dropped me off on the way to work, and I walked home. Later, when I was in Jr High/HS, I either took the bus or walked myself.

    (i only got rides home in Kindergarten.)

  24. As a younger kid who couldn’t be home alone, we Ajax after school programs that lasted until 6 where you’d either get a late bus home or your parents would pick you up. As a teen who could be home alone, I took the bus home or usually had basketball/soccer practice. Once I got my license it got a lot easier of course

  25. Any of the following:

    Kids walk, ride their bicycle, or take a school or city bus home. Very young kids might go to daycare or a neighbor might watch them, older kids just hang out in the house by themselves (we have a phrase “latchkey kids”.

    Only one parent works.

    There’s an arrangement with a friend or neighbor to pick up the kids.

    Kids have an after-school activity.

  26. When my kids were too young to go and stay home by themselves (8 years old or so), they stayed at school in a free program called “latchkey” that was basically just childcare handled by school faculty at their elementary school that was open from like 6:45 in the morning until school started, and then again from after school until 5:30.

    I have no idea how parents manage when this isn’t an option.

  27. My husband and I have always staggered our schedules. He has always had a job where he can set his own office time and up until this year, I worked from 6:30-3:00. So he got them on the bus and I’d be home when they got off. Now I also work a job where i can set my own office hours so I generally just work when they are in school and am home when they aren’t (I’m part time now).

    Having flexibility like that is a GAME CHANGER when it comes to family and mental health for me. Working set hours when you have kids just feels impossible. Even with a partner that was able to be flexible, it was hard. Both of us being able to work around our family schedule now is truly the dream.

  28. I’m an American and wondered how parents do this nowadays.
    I had a stay at home mom till I was around 12, then I was a latchkey kid.

    I’ll drive by a local school at 3pm-ish and see sooooo many parents picking up their kids. I was wondering how they didn’t need to work!

  29. Welcome to the concept of “latchkey kids”—kids who make their way home at around 3 and amuse themselves until their parents come home.

    In some cases, the kids may participate in some afterschool activity (sports practice, tutoring, etc) that may keep them occupied until their parents can come get them.

  31. My school day ended at 6, we had sports. Also, my mom was stay at home so she could pick us up whenever.

  32. After school programs, someone else picks them up, the kid goes home by himself

  33. I grew up in the 70/80s and I remember that some homes used to have a big blue star they could put in their window. It was for kids to know that if they needed help for anything while walking home, these were safe homes they could go to. I’m not sure who gave these out, but I know my mom was vetted before she put one of these up.

    I don’t know when those phased out, but one day I realized I never saw them anymore. Of course, something like that today would be so easy to replicate that it’s useless. It could probably be done with an app, nowadays.

    Anyway – I was walking home from school from 1st grade onwards. I think mom went back to work when I was about in 4th grade (and I was just enough older than my brothers to be able to look after them and know who to call if we needed help.)

  34. Any of the following:

    1. The kid simply walks/bikes/rides the bus home and stays at home unsupervised until the parents get home. More common for older kids than for younger ones, naturally.

    2. Only one parent works and the other is a stay-at-home parent.

    3. Both parents work, but they don’t both work the “typical” 9-5 shift, or they are able to get off. (This is more common in salaried arrangements where you’re not necessarily punching a time clock, or in jobs where you’re out and about most of the day anyway.)

    4. A neighborhood or friend’s family exists for whom 2 or 3 is true, and they pick up the kids on the parents’ behalf.

    5. Day care / after-school activities. There are often bus routes that go to local day cares.

    6. Retired relatives (e.g. Grandma/Grandpa) pick up the kid.

  35. The bus, afterschool care, walking, parents take time off to pick them up then go back to work, parents rely on others to do it (other parents, other family, etc)

    I played sports all throughout school, so my parents actually oftentimes got home from work before I got back from practice.

  36. I went to a small catholic school that didn’t have bus service, so a lot of kids would just hang out around the school. My mom was a teacher there, so she’d stick around until 5:00ish grading papers and helping kids with homework etc, which meant I had to stick around too. Sometimes I got my homework done, but a lot of times I just got into shenanigans with the other kids who were waiting for their parents.

    School was also downtown (in a very small city) so a lot of kids were in walking distance from their parents’ offices and would just go hang out at the office until the parents were done with work, which I guess is what I was doing too.

  37. The one place where public transit has succeeded is the school bus system. I don’t know statistics, but to my knowledge, about 95% of public school students have the ability to take a school bus to/from school (exceptions for people who live in distinctly rural areas or within reasonable walking distance).

  38. They don’t. That’s when those big yellow busses come in to the picture.

  39. Does anyone know how many kids go to after school care, annually? And a source like the US Government would be great

  40. Hi! I was that kid. Through elementary school I was part of the afterschool program, which was basically like an extended recess with teachers supervising: if the weather was nice out, we’d play on the playground or if it was inclimate weather, hang out in the gym and watch Tiny Toons.

    Middle School through High School was a mix of afterschool activities, or else I’d catch the bus home and be a “latchkey kid” (aka have my own key and supervise myself and any younger siblings). Sometimes my friends and I would go downtown to hang out after school (small town), at which point I’d meet my mom at her office and ride home with her from there.

    This was before cell phones, so communication was usually a collect call “Will you accept the charges from ‘Hey Mom I Missed the Bus Will You Pick Me Up from School/So-and-So’s House?'”

  41. Finding a flexible employer, finding a daycare provider in your school district so your kid can bus there, having an (older) kid walk or ride the bus, having retired parents.

    Side note: my kid’s school day is 8-3, so drop off can easily happen on the way to work

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